Over the weekend, the Hollywood Reporter announced that their upcoming TV series "Gotham" has officially cast its star. The network turns to Ben McKenzie, who began his career starring in "The O.C." on Fox some seven years prior. The actor is also well known for "Southland" as well as voiced Batman himself in the animated adaptation of "Batman: Year One" released by Warner Brothers home video in 2011.

"Gotham" is set in Gotham City years before the debut of Batman in a city ruled by corruption and gangsters. McKenzie's James Gordon is a rookie detective for the Gotham City Police Department who is trying to be an honest cop on a dishonest force in a city which already has powerful mobsters and some themed criminals. He also will seek to try to solve the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne, which has left their young son Bruce an orphan. Bruno Heller, show-runner of "The Mentalist", will be the executive producer of this series with Danny Cannon ("CSI", "Nikia") will direct and produce the pilot episode.

Despite being rivals with Warner Brothers (which owns DC Comics), the Fox network has long capitalized on the dark knight. "Batman: the Animated Series" originally ran weekday afternoons on Fox from 1992-1995 until the series was revamped and moved to Kid's WB in 1997.

Meanwhile, The CW's spin off of "Arrow" continues to chug along as a pilot episode for "The Flash" is under production. The latest addition is Tom Cavanagh, best known for starring in "Ed", has been cast as physicist Harison Wells, who becomes a pariah at S.T.A.R. Labs when his latest experiment causes an explosion. However, that explosion also winds up transforming forensic investigator Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) into the Flash, hero of Central City.

Additional cast members include Jesse L. Martin as Allen's peer and mentor, Detective West, Candice Patton as Allen's potential love interest Iris West, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost, Rick Cosnett as detective Eddie Thawne (who may wind up being the villain Professor Zoom). Carlos Valdes has also been cast as Cisco Ramon, who in DC Comics is better known as Vibe. Also set to appear in the pilot is Hartley Rathaway, who is better known as the Pied Piper from DC Comics. Curiously, better known Flash villains such as Captain Cold, Mirror-Master and Captain Boomerang are nowhere to be seen.

The "Arrow" production team of Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and David Nutter are acting as executive producers for "The Flash". Nutter will direct the pilot from a script written by former Flash comic writer (and DC Entertainment's chief creative officer) Geoff Johns. Berlanti spoke with Digital Spy about the upcoming series, which he says will have a more science fiction bent than "Arrow". Knowing the realities of the TV biz, Berlanti also stated that should "The Flash" fail to progress past the pilot stage and/or be canceled quickly, that he plans to keep Grant Gustin's Barry Allen involved in "Arrow". The aforementioned series about DC Comics' emerald archer is in its second season and will likely be renewed for a third by The CW should ratings hold.

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Alex Widen has spent twenty seven Earth years examining the medium of comic books around the Brooklyn area. Through extensive research and habitual buying, Alex is able to deliver all your comic news needs. Alex welcomes your feedback at alex.widen@gmail.com.